A first attempt at Pretzels

I can't believe that it's the last week of the Great British Bake Off! I've so enjoyed baking along each week. When I first linked up my cake it was because I happened to have baked something which fitted the theme that week - I really didn't imagine that I would end up taking part each week from then on!

This week it was the final, and the last three challenges - a savoury picnic pie, pretzels and a wedding cake. I decided to go for pretzels as I've never made them before and they sounded more appealing than a picnic pie. I'm afraid that neither my budget nor my stomach is large enough for me to attempt a wedding cake without an actual wedding in mind!

Google found me a recipe for Hot Soft Pretzels which looked delicious. The recipe was simple, without too many ingredients, and they could be made in my Kenwood Chef.  The dough was a little sticky so I added some extra flour, fortunately that seemed to do the trick.

The most difficult part of the bake was shaping the pretzels, and after all that effort they expanded so much in the baking that it all sort of merged together anyway! I think that perhaps I should have rolled the dough out into a longer, thinner sausage, I didn't expect it to increase quite so much in size.

I'm so grateful to The Crazy Kitchen and Mummy Mishaps for hosting each week. I've really enjoyed taking part.